Chris Lamb
chris-lamb.co.uk · Personal blog · on HN since 2008
Chris Lamb is a Debian developer writing on command line hacks, Python, Django, and Unix tools.
What HN saysHN commenters link his trick for getting a progress bar from cp using strace, calling it clever, and his post on the block stacking problem.
23HN people shared it
3linked it in comments
29stories submitted
609story points
1 year agolast shared
2008people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Can you get cp to give a progress bar like wget?3 people · 165 points · first shared 2008 · 33 comments on HN
- 2Command Line Hack: Locate the Source for any Python Module2 people · 12 points · first shared 2010 · 4 comments on HN
- 3AptFs: FUSE filesystem for APT source repositories2 people · 3 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 4Chris Lamb: 10 years of Debian2 people · 2 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
- 5Can you get cp to give a progress bar like wget2 people · first shared 2013
- 6Concorde1 people · 317 points · first shared 2016 · 179 comments on HN
- 7GeoDjango and the UK postcode database1 people · 30 points · first shared 2009 · 10 comments on HN
- 8Distributing locking with Python and Redis1 people · 21 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 9Django-ctemplate: Compile Django templates to C1 people · 15 points · first shared 2014 · discussion on HN
- 10Sysadmin-friendly deployment of Gunicorn in Debian for Django projects1 people · 8 points · first shared 2012 · 2 comments on HN
- 11Disabling Internet for specific processes with libfiu1 people · 5 points · first shared 2014 · 4 comments on HN
- 12Swordfish - High-level persistent key-value database1 people · 4 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 13Don't ask your questions in private1 people · 4 points · first shared 2014 · 2 comments on HN
- 14Clear your inbox using DELAYED mail1 people · 3 points · first shared 2010 · discussion on HN
- 15Awarded Core Infrastructure Initiative Grant for Reproducible Builds1 people · 3 points · first shared 2016 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
lamby · 2015-11-23
strace is definitely a fun toy.
Here's my favourite hack: https://chris-lamb.co.uk/posts/can-you-get-cp-to-give-a-progress-bar-l…
OgsyedIE · 2025-08-20
Even better solutions which are interesting to visualize were proved optimal in 2007.
https://chris-lamb.co.uk/posts/optimal-solution-for-the-block-stacking…
mhugo · 2013-09-08
This one is also pretty clever (based on catching the write() syscall with strace) :
https://chris-lamb.co.uk/posts/can-you-get-cp-to-give-a-progress-bar-l…